


Peppermint-the Flavor of Evil

by ironmanisalive



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Allergies, Christmas, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24412681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironmanisalive/pseuds/ironmanisalive
Summary: AKA Peter is allergic to peppermint because of the bite and doesn't tell anyone about it until he's almost dying.
Relationships: Ben Parker & Peter Parker, Ben Parker/May Parker (Spider-Man), May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 377





	Peppermint-the Flavor of Evil

**Author's Note:**

> This may or may not be based off the fact that I'm low-key allergic to peppermint and almost died when my roommate started wearing peppermint lotion...

May had been using peppermint oil as a bug repellent for years before Peter was bitten—before Peter was her kid even. He’d gotten used to the smell shortly after he’d started living with Ben and May and it was never really an issue.

Until he went on a field trip to  Oscorp and got bitten by a glowing, radioactive spider. Then it became an issue. A few days after his “bout of flu”, Ben came into his room carrying the spray bottle of ‘bug stuff’, as May called it.

“I killed a spider in the kitchen, so I’m reinforcing our windows. General May requested it.”

Peter laughed and Ben got to work. The moment that Ben sprayed the bottle, Peter couldn’t help but gag. The smell was so strong and awful! He actually felt sick. But the deed was done and the mixture of peppermint oil and water was already all over the window frame and spreading through Peter’s room. 

He tried to ignore it and distract himself with math homework, but he soon started to feel the effects of the peppermint. It felt like an asthma attack, at first. He started wheezing a little and he felt like he was breathing through a tiny straw. He decided to go out into the kitchen, maybe it would be better out there.

It wasn’t.

Ben had sprayed every barrier between the outside and the inside with bug stuff, so no matter where Peter  went, he felt like he was actively being poisoned. It was then that he realized he was actually turning into a spider, not just gaining some pretty weird powers.

Unfortunately (or, rather, quite fortunately), May was in the kitchen and heard Peter wheezing and struggling to breathe, so she whipped out her handy-dandy emergency inhaler (Peter still had no idea how she always had it on her) and gave him a couple puffs. It did the trick, and Peter could breathe again. He went to Ned’s house right after.

***

Peter managed to successfully avoid peppermint (or  evilmint as he secretly took to calling it) for a long time. After Ben died, Peter was tasked with spraying bug stuff in the apartment and he never sprayed inside his room. That way, he had a safe space to hide from the enemy without being poisoned. He managed to talk May out of all of the peppermint-flavored candies on Christmas (he’d had a few problems at school when what felt like every single classmate of his had peppermint-scented lotion, but he lived) and gave his one gifted candy-cane-candy-gram from the school to Ned. 

He’d been safe for nearly two years before he met with his enemy once more. 

Mr. Stark invited him and May to stay over for Christmas. The Potts-Stark and Parker families had grown extremely close and it only felt right for them to accept. 

Peter regretted it the minute they walked out of the elevator on the Stark’s main floor on Christmas Eve. He was hit with the strongest smell of peppermint ever. It came from every surface in the form of candles, candies, air freshener, and even perfume. Ms. Potts was wearing peppermint  _ perfume!!  _ Peter was going to die. At least it would be on his favorite holiday.

He dragged Mr. Stark away almost immediately to help him patch a hole in the suit. Hopefully the lab wouldn’t be as poisonous...and it wasn’t! Peter walked through the room and immediately felt better.

He took a few deep breaths and dropped into a seat, plopping the suit onto the desk in front of him.

“You alright, kid?” Mr. Stark was looking at him concernedly. “You got scary pale upstairs before you pulled me down here. You feeling sick?”

“What? No, I’m fine. Mr. Stark, really, I’m totally fine. I think it was just...um, the change in elevation. From the ground to the top of the tower. It was probably just that.”

“Okay...” Mr. Stark gave him one more weird look before turning his attention to the red and blue suit in front of him. “Where’s the rip?”

Later that night, they all sat down around the living room with dinner plates loaded and Elf playing on the screen. Peter didn’t have much of an appetite because of the peppermint, so he got as little food as possible and tried to eat some of it. Breathing was starting to get harder and he hoped that it wouldn’t be as bad as the last time he had a reaction to peppermint. May didn’t carry her emergency inhaler around anymore...

He cleared his throat quietly, hoping it would help.  It kind of did and he went back to focusing on not passing out. Before long, he was wheezing, barely breathing, and dizzy from lack of oxygen. He closed his eyes for a second.

“Are you alright, Pete?” May was crouched in front of him. When did she get there?

He shook his head. “Can’t...breathe...”

Now Mr. Stark was in his line of blurry vision. “Did you get hurt on patrol?”

Peter shook his head again, desperately hanging onto consciousness.

He could kind of hear Mr. Stark talking to FRIDAY before he finally slipped away into the darkness enveloping him.

He woke up to a familiar beeping—he was in the  MedBay . His throat hurt and his head felt fuzzy. He turned his head to see May looking at him.

“Good morning, wheezy.”

He groaned, wincing when it hurt his already sore throat. “Did I pass out?” 

“Yeah, you did.” Now Tony was speaking from his other side. “Apparently Spider-Babies are allergic to peppermint. FRIDAY said you’d been in a state of anaphylactic shock since you got here.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you weren’t feeling good, baby?” May grabbed his hand.

“I didn’t want to ruin Christmas. Ms. Potts seemed so into the smell and I didn’t want to be a Scrooge.”

Both adults in the room simultaneously sighed.  _ This kid.  _

“Pepper wouldn’t have minded. You should have told us that you couldn’t  _ breathe _ . No matter how festive your poison is, it’s always better to put a candle out than break into the  EpiPens on Christmas Eve.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You are forgiven. Just make sure you let me know, next time, if you’re allergic to my holiday decorations. I’ll look for hypoallergenic chocolates for Valentine’s Day.”

The three soon made their way back upstairs to find that all traces of  evilmint had been cleared from the floor. Pepper, freshly showered and now smelling like vanilla, was pulling some cookies out of the oven. 

“Peppermint free. I’m sorry I triggered your allergies, Peter,” she said with a smile.

“It was my fault, Ms. Potts, I should have warned you guys sooner.”

The rest of the night went off without a hitch and Christmas morning was celebrated with fruit-flavored candy canes and allergy-free movie marathons.


End file.
